1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a field emission display, and more particularly, to an automatic spacers mounting system capable of automatically mounting spacers on a panel of a field emission display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a field emission display (FED) has a top panel and a bottom panel that are spaced apart from each other, and a space between the top and bottom panels is sealed in a vacuum. Therefore, many spacers are used to uniformly maintain the gap and the vacuum between the top and bottom panels.
Field emission displays having displays of 40-inches or larger use more than 1000 spacers to maintain structural stability and product characteristics. A spacer may have a cylindrical shape.
A method of mounting spacers on the field emission display may include a worker individually mounting spacers on the field emission display with tweezers. The method takes a long time and provides a low yield.
In another method, a plurality of spacers are picked up and placed by a chuck. When L×M spacers are mounted on a panel of a field emission display, the method is configured so that L spacers are mounted on the panel M times. Accordingly, many spacers are set in a vertical position one by one using a bowl feeder and a linear feeder, and a gripper is used to pick up and place the spacers to mount them on the field emission display. However, since the number of spacers that can be picked up and placed by the gripper at one time is small, this method takes a long time. Also, if the spacers have a high aspect ratio, it is difficult to quickly mount the spacers.